Make Nutrition and Exercise Choices For the Right Reasons (not to lose weight)

What’s better, high reps or low? Eating before bed or not? Eat carbs before working out or save them for post-workout? Sprinting or jogging? Blue or green?

What’s Better?

Better for what?…is my typical response. Most people asking this question are asking what choices are better for weight loss.

Now, I’m not going to say those are wrong questions to ask. However, there is a much better way to frame your questions that give you the right answers for your individual situation.

By framing your question in a process-oriented way, you can make mindset, nutrition, and exercise choices that fuel satisfaction, energy, and personal growth. And by side effect – you lose weight.

Weight loss is always the side effect. It is the outcome of our process. And our process is the skills and habits we develop to make our lives better right now. Not in 3 months when you lose some weight. Not in 3 years after you lose 100lbs.

Your choices affect the present moment. You don’t need to wait for the results to happen. They are happening every time you eat a meal, and every time you move your body. They are instant.

You feel less stress after a good run. You feel more confident after a great weight training workout. You feel more energy after a healthy meal.

You feed off those actions. They create motivation. They build momentum. They lead to consistency and long-term adherence to your lifestyle plan. And that is when weight loss happens.

Focusing On the Details is Stealth Procrastination

Details are fun. Details are sexy. They give us a sense of control and make us feel better about our choices.

But details don’t get the job done. Executing the broader concepts of a healthy lifestyle and fine-tuning those core skills are what get you results.

Taking action and pushing through the struggles are when breakthroughs happen. They are absolutely necessary to achieve transformation.

You likely don’t need more knowledge. You don’t need to know the finer details. You know what’s healthy and what’s not. You know when you’ve had a good workout.

What you need is more action, more persistence, more patience, and more trust in yourself. You need to stop waiting for things to be perfect before you take action.

Perfectionism is Procrastination

That perfect day never comes. And if things do eventually quiet down so you can be “ready”, it’s unlikely to stay that way.

That’s when you convince yourself to pause your program for a later day when things are easier. But guess what? It doesn’t get easier. Those same struggles that you’re avoiding will be there waiting for you.

When you persist you get better at pushing through those struggles. You come out on the other side learning something about yourself that can be applied to your unique situation.

You can’t find that kind of information in books or blogs. You can only get it through experience.

So stop drifting to the details. Stop waiting for your life to be in better order before you get started.

Take action now. Immerse yourself in the journey. Explore your self.

That’s how change happens.

20 Comments

Tony Schober

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that if you need more help losing weight you can download my ebook The 10 Forgotten Rules of Weight Loss absolutely free.

Don’t feel bad. I’ve paused many programs too. At the very least I’ve paused for plenty of weekends after messing up with my eating. Better to start over with a fresh week. Rationalizations can be very strong. 🙂

I’m a perfectionist and have never really thought of it as a form of procrastination, but I think you’re right. I think I’m so afraid of failing that getting all the details right gives me a sense of control. How do I let go of this attitude?

Hi Mary, I used to be proud of my perfectionist personality, and you might be too. I’d first start by taking it down off the pedestal and stop identifying with it. Remind yourself that there is no such thing as perfect. There will always be something that’s not to your liking.

Give yourself permission to mess up. It will be OK and you’ll learn something from it. Good luck!

That’s exactly how I lost the weight. I used to be a size 14 and 12 stone. After taking up a healthy diet and excercise I’m now a size 8 and 9 stone ☺️. I have managed to keep the weight off but what I find works for me is cheat day on a Saturday or Sunday. And drinking 2-3 letres of water everyday makes it easier to lose weight!

“That perfect day never comes. And if things do eventually quiet down so you can be “ready”, it’s unlikely to stay that way.

That’s when you convince yourself to pause your program for a later day when things are easier. But guess what? It doesn’t get easier. Those same struggles that you’re avoiding will be there waiting for you.”

Tony these 2 statements say it all. I’m trying to really focus on habits that I can live with, not habits just to lose weight. It’s been a life long struggle, down 10, up 15, down 15 up 10. I’m desperately trying to make permanent changes that I can live with.

Thank you for being what I consider to be one of the most “sound” sources of fitness, wellness, mindset and nutrition out there. As a fitness professional and gym owner, there is a lot of information that is misleading and causes more harm than good to most people in my opinion! Thanks for caring and sharing the best!

I agree Dawn. Tony gives the ‘best’ advice. It’s how it works: adjust the lifestyle, create good habits and the weight loss will come. If you go off the rails one day, don’t sweat it. Returning to your committed lifestyle the next day gets you right back on track – minimal damage done. Really, really sensible, practical advice that most people could live with. I’m kinda old and my doctor says that the changes I’ve made to my lifestyle have added a decade to my life, although, he’d like to see me shed another 5lb in addition to the 35lb I’ve lost in the last two years. I gotta figure out how to do that!

Hi coach, I’ve been struggling with a past eating disorder and am trying to find where to go from here. I love your articles and they’ve made me look at food differently. I’m 23, 175 lbs, and 68 inches tall. A few years ago it wasn’t unusual for me to eat less than 900 calories a day while doing insane amounts of cardio. Now I’m really focusing on weight training with some low intensity cardio (I’m a nurse and get a decent amount of movement in). I’ve increased my calories over the years but was only eating about 1600. After reading your articles and using your calculator, I increased to 2000 and have held at this for two weeks. I’ve been focusing on body measurements (I have a bad relationship with scales) and over these past two weeks I haven’t seen much change. In fact, some areas seem bigger to me. Am I eating too much and gaining? I can’t imagine that because I know it would take more than that to gain a pound. Any advice helps, thanks!

Hi Mary, first off, congrats on working through your eating disorder and getting your calories all the way up to 2000/day. That is quite the accomplishment!

Second, keep in mind that calorie calculators are starting points and you will have to adjust food intake based on your body’s feedback. If eating at 2000 calories resulting in no weight loss after 2 weeks, adjust your food intake downward by either cutting out small portions of food or by dropping calories 100-200/day. Then give it another 2 weeks to assess the results.

Repeat this process until you hit the number where your weight/measurements start trending downwards and then leave things there.

WOW
THANK YOU. This is a perfect timing article! I was just struggling with that: pausing a workout, not eating well because i had a “bad day” postponing the workout i wanted ti do because i didnt have a perfect day or didnt trust myself to actually making that change. I want to remember that losing weight is indeed the side effect. I will definitely kill my workout tonight 🙂 thank you Tony, greetings From Peru! <3

Glad the article resonated with you. It’s that perfectionist attitude that can hold you back. Let the all-or-nothing thinking go. Each time you eat is a new opportunity to do something great for your body, so take advantage of it. Good luck!

I have been doing so well lately I have only been at the gym for 3 weeks but lost a steady 1lb a week and body fat with it which is more inmortant to me. I am now on medication before an op and my weight is going back up again but my body fat has stayed steady can I assume from this that the tablets are causing the weight gain as I am doing all the same workouts as the first 3 weeks and increase my jogging time on the treadmill every few days. What’s happening?

Hello, been reading your website for a few weeks now, and everything you write is so simple, yet so true. Would just like to say thank you for posting what you do. Out of all the materials ive read in the past few years, yours is hitting home the most. I am now trying to make overall lifestyle changes, instead of just focusing on one area, eg: cut down on carbs and all your problems will be solved! Also im making changes that agree with me and my lifestyle, theres no point doing something that makes you miserable and 1 month later you stop adhering to. Thanks again Tony, and keep up the awesome work!